Mademoiselle Boleyn
Release date scheduled for late 2007

"A Conversation With Robin Maxwell" (Part 3)

How do you do your research?

When I began writing historical fiction a dozen years ago, aside from material collected on several trips to England and Ireland, and a handful of purchased books, the major source of my research was the public library system. In most of the libraries at that time they still had "card catalogs." I'd have to stand poring over small, typed-out cards, trying to guess at the best way to cross-reference an historical figure, place or event, then search through the stacks for what sounded like just the perfect book, many times to discover that it was checked out, or stolen.

I was always lucky enough to find a couple of books that became my "bibles," like Marie Louis Bruce's Anne Boleyn. I was able to check it out for three weeks and renew it for another three, but then I was forced by library rules to return the book and leave it overnight before checking it out again. I'd find myself praying on those nights that no one else would check it out. I'd rush back the next morning and take greedy possession for another six weeks. For those first novel, the strange "library dance" would go on for the whole time I was researching and writing, as long as a year and a half. It was frustrating and difficult and, of course, I could never mark up the library books, forcing me to do extensive note-taking and massive paper file creation. I'm not the neatest person in the world, and during those periods my house looked like a war zone.

Then came the advent of online bookstores, such as Amazon, Powell's and Alibris. Suddenly I was able to find both in-print, and fabulous older and out-of-print used books, as well as collector's editions. I started buying all the book I needed. Today, with seven books researched, my fifteenth and sixteenth century history collection overflows two large bookcases. An added benefit of buying books is being able to mark up the texts any way I please, making my work easier.

On the last three books I've written I've used the internet more and more extensively for research. In order to get a feel for locations I've never visited, I can call up dozens of photographs and descriptions of the place. I can cross-reference subjects and characters using popular as well as scholarly links. For Mademoiselle Boleyn I found some wonderful sites on Charles the Holy Roman Emperor, Margaret of Burgundy, and Marguerite the Duchess of Alencon, much of which I could not find in any book. While I was able to order several volumes on sixteenth century playing cards from online bookstores, the web provided invaluable material about the rules of specific card games of the period, and even the language used while playing them.

All in all, the modern world is a much happier place for me to do historical research.

If you could ask Anne Boleyn any question, what would it be?

I'd love to know what it was about Henry Percy that caused Anne to fall so madly in love with him. So in love that she managed to bring the entire male establishment of England down on her their heads. I'd also ask her if she ever was in love with Henry VIII, or whether, after she was torn away from Percy and pursued by the king, she was ever able to open her heart again.